


Solstice

by Incandescent_Midnight



Category: Twilight Series - Stephenie Meyer
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-29
Updated: 2016-07-04
Packaged: 2018-07-19 01:49:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7339642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Incandescent_Midnight/pseuds/Incandescent_Midnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As a girl runs away from home to escape the family she feels she doesn't belong in, she ends up gaining a new one in the process. How will she deal with the drastic changes the Cullens bring to her life?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Prologue**

 

At first I thought that leaving home wouldn't be so bad. I thought ' _Hey! I'm a smart 17 year-old; I can live on my own. I don't need to live by the stupid rules my parents made up.'_ Oh how wrong I was.

Here I was in the middle of New Hampshire with a messenger bag full of clothes and $10. What was I doing in New Hampshire you ask? Well, it beats the shit out of me. I guess if I had to really give an answer to that question it would probably be that it's far enough away from my family that I'd never have to see them again.

Before you ask, my family was not abusive in the slightest. They were more interested in getting "high" on life and nature, than taking care of their 17 year-old daughter.

Some people would say that that's awesome; that it's every kids dream to be left alone by their parents. But if you've had to deal with that for basically your entire life, you'd be upset too. So rather than deal with my parents being constantly high and their freakish obsession with nature, I decided to jet out of there.

As I relived my memories, I crossed the street to get to the nearest 24-hour convenience store (it must have been 1 am at the earliest). In a matter of seconds, I was hit with the view of blinding headlights, and moments later, a massive amount of pain greeted me, and I, giving into the pain, blacked out.

But, before I black out I remembered being picked up and carried away by someone who kept muttering, "Relax" and "Everything will be alright."

Once I blacked out though, I wasn't welcomed by the peaceful calm all the books talked about. Instead it was a raging fire that spread throughout my entire body, and it took everything in me to stop myself from screaming out loud.


	2. Chapter 1

 

When the burning finally began to subside, I realized that I might actually be dead now.

'Well,' I thought, 'it's better than feeling like I'm on fire.'

I was, eventually, able to open my eyes, and realized I was in an unfamiliar room. I sat up quickly and looked around.

A million thoughts ran through my mind like, 'Where the hell am I?'; 'How did I get here?'; and 'I hope I wasn't kidnapped because that would suck.'

I was snapped out of my thoughts by someone clearing their throat.

I whipped my head in the direction of the sound, and saw a blonde-haired male with gold eyes smiling slightly at me. The next thing I knew, I was crouched down on the floor in the opposite corner of the room from him.

'How the hell did I get over here so fast?' I thought. I was finally able to find my voice, and with as much courage as I had at that point said, "Who are you, and what do you want from me?"

For a moment I was completely caught off guard by the person that just spoke, before realizing that it was me. It was much lighter sounding, almost like bells.

"Relax," the man said. "I'm not here to hurt you."

"Why should I believe you?" I replied. "For all I know, you could be trying to drug and kill me." That caused him to chuckle. Is this guy for real?

"Relax," he repeated. "I promise I won't hurt you." I gave him one last wary look before getting up from my crouched position on the floor. "My name is Carlisle," he continued, "and I've brought you back to my home because you were in an accident."

"If I was in an accident, shouldn't you have brought me to the hospital!?" I yelled. Yeah, I was bugging out a bit, but I was in some strange guy's house. He chuckled a bit.

"I am a doctor," he replied. "You would not have made it if I brought you to the hospital; you had a very faint heartbeat and you weren't breathing. It was a hit and run."

"So I was basically a road pizza?" I asked. "That makes me dead then, right?"

"Not exactly," he answered.

"Well if I'm not dead, what am I?" Carlisle gave me a small smile.

"I'll leave you alone for a few minutes to figure that out. In the mean time, I ask that you not leave this house for any reason."

"Why?"

"It isn't safe for you to be outside," he said. "If you need me, I'll be right down the hall, all the way on the end."

Carlisle gave me another tentative smile before leaving the room, and shutting the door behind him.

So this guy basically tells me that I was dead, but now I'm not. Then, says he brought me back to his house and then tells me not to leave. This guy is most definitely hella' trippin'. All I knew was that there was no way I was staying here.

As quietly as I could, I opened the window and climbed out. Once I was out the window though, I realized that I must have been on, at least, the third floor, so I closed my eyes, let go, and waited for the loud thud and a lot of pain, but it never came.

"That's so ace," I whispered. I quickly looked back up at the window I had just jumped from, and when I realized he didn't hear me, I took off running into the forest.

I looked around as I ran, and noticed that I was moving really fast, but could still see everything so clearly. I also noticed that I never ran out of breath. On second thought, I hadn't been breathing at all.

I stopped running, took a deep breath in through my nose, and froze as I smelled something appetizing, which caused my throat to burn.

Something inside me took over as I ran without thinking to the source of the smell. Then I attacked it; snapping its neck and clamping my teeth down on it.

It wasn't until I had drained it dry that I realized what I had done. And at that moment, the only thing I could say was, "I hope that wasn't Bambi's mom."

My throat still burned though, so I searched for something else to satisfy my thirst.

It wasn't until after my fourth deer, that the burning in my throat was at a tolerable level.

"Why are you denying yourself of your natural food source?"

Upon hearing another voice, I went straight into a protective crouch, and bared my teeth and growled at the one who spoke.

He was tall and lean, with short, light brown hair, pale skin, and crimson eyes. He was dressed in a charcoal colored coat, a grey turtleneck shirt, black gloves, and what looked like black dress pants and shoes.

He cocked his head to one side in question as he stared at me from his position 20 feet away from me. And then he was right in front of me.

"Newborn," he said. "Did your creator leave you here to fend for yourself?"

I don't know what made me do it, but I stopped growling and stood up straight. It was like my whole body shut down for a second. Although I didn't trust this person, I felt that he wasn't going to hurt me. "Tell me little one, do you even know what you've become?"

I stared at him terrified; I had no idea, but he did.

"Tesoro, you must know what you've become," he continued. "I'll give you a hint." He began to slowly circle me. "Think back to what you were doing before my arrival." It took me only a moment to recount what I was doing before realization dawned on my face. I had become a vampire.

I looked at him, again terrified, to see that he was smirking at me.

"What the fuck?!" I yelled. "You can't be serious?! Holy shit-balls! This guy is a total burn-out! Goddamnson of a bitch!"

Then I remembered that I wasn't alone. So, I looked up in the direction of what's-his-face and saw him staring at me with an eyebrow raised and an amused expression. The sudden sound of laughter told me that someone else was there.

The other guy, who was still laughing hysterically, walked over and joined what's-his-face.

"So she knows?" the other guy said to what's-his-face once he finally stopped laughing.

What's-his-face stared at the other guy with a blank look before saying, "Yes Felix, she knows," in a monotone sort of voice.

Then the other guy, now known as Felix, turned to me and said in a mocking voice, "So you're a vampire." I honestly had no idea what to say at that point, and I'm guessing I just sort of stared at him with a shocked expression on my face.

"I think we should just put her out of her misery, don't you?" Felix said to what's-his-face.

Now I couldn't tell if he was joking or not, but as Felix started coming towards me and what's-his-face just stood there, I freaked out again. Felix then reached his arm out to grab me, and all I could think in that moment was 'get the hell away from me.'

Suddenly, Felix was thrown back as if he was somehow hit by a runaway train. All I could do was gape in the direction that he flew off in.

"Interesting," what's-his-face said after a moment. "You may be of some use after all."

I was still gaping like an idiot by the time Felix got back from wherever he flew off to, and what's-his-face was smirking again.

"Did you have a nice trip, Felix?" what's-his-face asked with a smirk still on his face. Felix just rolled his eyes.

"Considering the rumors were actually just rumors, can we leave now?" Felix asked. What's-his-face nodded his head. "What about the girl? Are we taking her?"

"Considering what's she's just done, I'd say Aro might find her quite useful," what's-his-face replied.

"Alright, so the girl comes with us."

"The girl is right here," I said sarcastically after finally regaining my voice. Boy did it sound completely different. "And what if she doesn't want to go?" 'And why am I still referring to myself in the third person?' I thought.

"Well it's either you come with us or you die," Felix said. Is this dude serious!?

"Get real, dickweed," I replied.

"Would you like to die?" he asked.

"Would you like a fresh one?"

"I think she's suicidal," Felix said to what's-his-face, completely ignoring me again.

"Possibly, but I think she's quite amusing," he replied. Then what's-his-face turned to me. "You're really caught in quite the predicament, aren't you?" I just crossed my arms and game him the and-your-point-is look causing him to smirk. Then he calmly walked towards me.

"I am afraid your choices are quite limited, Tesoro," he continued in a soft tone. "As you are a newborn on your own, it seems that you must either come with us or be killed."

"Why is that?" I asked. So I had an attitude, big deal. You would too if a complete stranger told you that your only options were to go with him or die.

"Look at this from our perspective," what's-his-face answered. "You are a newborn vampire, and regardless of what your food choices are," he continued with a disgusted look at the dead deer on the ground, "you may end up massacring an entire town just by stepping anywhere near a human, and that would not look good for us." I gave him a very skeptical look before finally deciding that he was probably right.

"Fine," I huffed. "But just so you know, I won't like it."

"It'll grow on you," Felix replied. Then he tried to grab my arm.

"Unless you want to go on another vacation, I suggest you don't touch me," I said. Felix glared at me for a moment before turning and walking away. I felt a hand on my shoulder and I immediately felt myself get into a protective crouch and start to growl. What's-his-face just gave me an amused smirk while I glared at him as I relaxed.

"You are going to have to learn to stay calm, Tesoro," what's-his-face said. I continued to glare at him as I crossed my arms. He sighed, probably realizing that I was not going to give in easily, before placing that same non-committal look on his face.

"Now just as a formality," he said, "is there anything you need before we leave?" The moment he asked, I immediately thought of my parents. Their faces were no longer clear in my mind, but I had no doubts about who they were. Because they really paid no attention to me anyway, I figured they wouldn't even realize I was gone. Hell, I had left for a week before, and they never even knew I wasn't with them. Whatever, they're better off without me anyway.

"No," I answered. "There's nothing here for me." Even if I had said yes, I doubt he would have let me do anything about it.

"Shall we proceed then?" he asked. I just nodded my head and let him lead me in the direction of wherever Felix went off to.

When we caught up with him, we were at, what I assumed to be, an airport.

"Is the girl ready to go now?" Felix asked.

"The girl has a name," I said angrily.

"Enlighten us then," Felix replied. Now I'm in deep shit. There was no way in hell anyone was finding out my real name, so I had to think quick otherwise Felix and what's-his-face would probably think I was an airhead.

"Roxanne," I answered. "My name's Roxanne."

"Well, Roxanne," what's-his-face said, "let's get going, shall we?" We then proceeded to board the small airplane before taking off towards my new home.


	3. Chapter 2

After what seemed like eternity, the plane finally landed and we made our way out.

"Put this on," Felix said, throwing a black cloak at me. I made no attempt to catch the cloak, and it fluttered to the ground at my feet. Was this dude always going to be such a hoser?

"And what if I don't?" I asked while crossing my arms.

"Then you'll die."

"Ooh, I'm so scared," I said sarcastically, while pretending to be afraid. "Please. And who's going to kill me, you? You can't even touch me." I was grinning at this point.

"That's it!" Felix yelled before running towards me. Fear quickly replaced my amusement, however, as quickly as the fear appeared, it vanished when What's-His-Face stood in front of me, putting out his hand to keep Felix away.

"Now now Felix, I would advise against killing her," he said. Felix backed off, still looking angry, and turned to walk away.

"Fine," he said. "But if she comes anywhere near me, I'm not going to be held accountable for ending her existence." He then put the hood up on his cloak and continued to walk away.

"You really should not be so confrontational around Felix," What's-His-Face said.

"Then he should learn not to be an ass," I replied. "Besides, he started it." What's-His-Face sighed before picking up and handing the cloak back to me.

"You really do need to put this on," he said. "We tend to stand out quite a bit in the sun." I reluctantly took the cloak from him and put it on. What's-His-Face put the hood up on his cloak, and I did the same as he led me to where I was guessing my new home would be.

He led me to an alleyway where we caught up with Felix. He seemed very irritated that we made him wait, but probably more so since I was there. I grinned at him causing him to scowl at me before dropping down into a hole in the ground. What's-His-Face gestured towards the hole. I glanced around the area, but the only way out was through What's-His-Face, so I had no choice but to follow after Felix. As soon as I jumped down, What's-His-Face jumped down and landed right behind me.

Felix, still scowling, led me through a path leading towards a grate which Felix opened, and then proceeded to shove me through. It led into a bright room with a large wooden door.

"Felix," What's-His-Face said, in what I assumed was supposed to be a warning tone, but ending up sounding like he was just bored. Felix looked back at What's-His-Face and then continued to walk towards the door. What's-His-Face nudged me through the door which opened up to another hallway, leading to an elevator.

The three of us stepped in the elevator and took the short ride down. To my shock, when the doors opened, it looked like we were in some sort of waiting room. There was even a receptionist, and as Felix and What's-His-Face led me past her, I immediately smelled that she was human. When I froze to stare at her, What's-His-Face placed a hand on my shoulder as a warning, and I instinctively held my breath as we walked past her and through another set of doors that led to a huge, elegantly decorated room. Three vampires sat in the middle of the room, with a bunch of others surrounding them, all wearing cloaks that ranged from gray to black.

"Ah, Felix, Demetri," the one in the middle said before he began to stand. So What's-His-Face had a name now; at least I could stop calling him that. The vampire that spoke had long jet-black hair and appeared very young, however, his red eyes were clouded over, and his skin did not appear to be as smooth as Felix and Demetri's. I guessed this person was the Aro dude they mentioned earlier. "I trust everything went well." They nodded. "And who might this be?"

'Oh boy,' I thought. 'This is not going to go well.'

"We found her wandering in the woods while we were searching for any signs of the rumored vampires running around," Felix answered. Then Aro held out his hand and Felix reluctantly stepped forward and placed his hand in Aro's.

His eyes immediately went from interested to excited. To be honest, it was pretty creepy. He let go of Felix's hand and clapped his hands together.

"That is quite the interesting gift you have," Aro said. "May I?" Then he held out his hand the same way he had for Felix. I looked up at Demetri who gave me a slight nod before walking towards him and hesitantly placed my hand in his.

As soon as our hands met, I had the weirdest feeling as though someone was invading my mind, and I wanted it to stop. Before I knew it, he released my hand and backed up with the creepiest look on his face. It looked as though he couldn't wait to keep me locked up here like everyone else was. I was not okay with that.

"That is quite an interesting story you have, Iris," he said. "Or rather, Eris?" I let out an involuntary hiss at the sound of my name. I really hated that name, both of them. "And it is quite a fitting name for you, considering the circumstances." I continued to glare, waiting for him to explain why he had some weird obsession with my name. "Do you not know the significance?" I continued to glare. I honestly couldn't care less what the significance of my real name was. All I knew was that I never wanted anything to do with my old life again, and I wasn't so sure that I wanted much to do with this new life. "Your name is that of the Greek goddess of strife and discord."

"Well, to be quite honest, I hate it," I replied, still glaring. He just continued to smile in that creepy way. At that point, I was thinking I would have been better off staying with that Carlisle dude. 'Oh well,' I thought. 'Too late now.'

"My dear, it seems you have a choice to make," he said, ignoring my previous statement. "You can either stay here and join us, or you may choose to walk away." The tone and smile he had made it clear that I really didn't have any choice in the matter. Now I really wish I had stayed with that Carlisle dude.

I glanced over at Demetri, who seemed to realize that I knew what was going on, and gave me a slight nod. I turned back towards Aro and weighed my options. I was obviously outnumbered, so there was no way for me to get out of here alive, so my options were to agree with them or die. Frustrated, I sighed and reluctantly agreed to stay. 'I guess being here is better than being murdered,' I thought.

"Wonderful," he said, his excitement growing at the fact that I 'willingly' chose to stay. I knew he only wanted me around to use me as a weapon or something. Whatever it was that made me so special, he wanted control over. "Demetri, please show Eris where she will be staying." I growled lowly realizing he was doing this on purpose just to piss me off. Demetri gave a slight nod, and then led me through the doors opposite from the ones we entered through. He took me through the long hallway until after what seemed like forever, we stopped in front of one of the many doors in the never ending hallway.

"This is your room," he said while opening the door. I really wanted to hate it, believe me I did. But, considering the fact that I never had my own room before, or a room at all, I had no choice other than to like it.

Everything was beautifully decorated, the room filled with furniture in colors ranging from a light cream color, to gold. There was even a bed, which I felt was really pointless considering I could no longer sleep.

On the far side of the room, there were two sets of double doors. I opened the first one to find a bathroom, which I again, found pointless since I wouldn't need to use that either. The second set of doors turned out to be a closet. It was obviously empty, but Demetri assured me that it would be soon be overflowing with things for me to wear. I sighed realizing that that was what my life had become.

"Don't worry," Demetri said. "You will grow to enjoy living here." I highly doubted that I would ever enjoy living at that place. "Once Heidi returns with food, she will get you something more presentable to wear."

"Why?" I asked. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" I honestly had no idea what was so wrong with wearing jeans and sneakers. They were comfortable.

"Let's just say we are required to dress a bit more formally," he answered. Great, just great. I knew what that meant; frilly dresses and fancy shoes. I gagged internally. If there was one thing I hated more than the way I grew up, it was frilly dresses and fancy shoes. 'So long jeans and sneakers,' I thought sadly. I mentally gave my old wardrobe its very own funeral.

"Fine," I said sadly. Just then, a girl who couldn't have been older than 12, with pale brown hair and crimson eyes, like everyone else in this horrid place, appeared in the doorway.

"Heidi is back," she said. She had a very high-pitched voice and spoke as if she were bored. Hidden beneath the boredom, I could see an odd glint in her eyes that made me nervous. The way Demetri reacted to her presence only cemented that worry.

I finally noticed that she wasn't alone. Standing slightly behind her was a boy who looked very similar to her, only he had darker hair. He was slightly taller than her and appeared to be more calm and had a blank look in his eyes. He said nothing, and just stood there waiting to see what would happen next. In all honesty, I was more afraid of him than I was of the girl.

"Thank you, Jane," Demetri said with a slight bow of his head. "Come. Time to have a proper meal." For some reason, I highly doubted that I was going to enjoy what he called a 'proper meal'. I unwillingly went with them as Demetri led me back down the hallway that we had been in just minutes before.

Jane walked in front of us, with some air of authority that even Demetri didn't seem to mind, even though it seemed like if it came down to a fight, Demetri would win. Obviously there must be something about her that makes her superior, so I wasn't about to question that.

The boy that she came with, on the other hand, stood towards the back, as if he were putting me in between him and Demetri. At that point I felt as if I was being guarded, or rather escorted like I was some sort of prisoner. I could tell it was the latter by the time we got back to those doors, because throughout the walk, both the boy and Demetri kept glancing over at me as though I would try to make a break for it and run away at any moment. 'I wish,' I thought sadly. I knew I had zero chance of escaping, and even if I did, I had no idea where I was.

Jane pushed the doors open and walked through, followed closely by the boy. Demetri then put a guiding hand on my shoulder and brought me back into the room where I was immediately assaulted by the most amazing scent. My mouth began to water, well, more like fill with venom, as Demetri had explained on our initial journey here with Felix. I then realized that Demetri wasn't guiding me in, he was restraining me from attacking whatever it was that smelled so intoxicating.

I looked around the room and noticed there were a lot more people in here than there were before. There were a few vampires that I had not yet seen, but the rest were humans, which is what I realized I had been smelling. I knew I was in deep shit then; there was no way I was killing a human. As hard as I tried to fight against my instincts, the moment I had smelled fresh blood, and Demetri released me, I attacked. It felt as though I had no control over my own body as I viciously murdered those innocent humans. It wasn't until after every last drop of blood had been removed from the room that I had regained some sort of control over myself. I almost collapsed with the amount of remorse and self-loathing I felt for what I had just done.

"It seems as though you were destined for this lifestyle," Aro announced. I stared, wide-eyed and horrified about what had just happened, even more so knowing that I had been involved in that massacre. "Now then, shall we get you something more appropriate to wear?" I just continued to stare at him as the realization of this being my new life sank in. The numbness hit me, and I nodded my head as I let the lack of emotions take over. "Wonderful," he said. "Heidi, will you please take Eris to get some more presentable clothes?" I assumed Heidi answered him, and soon after, I was being led away, remaining silent the entire time. It wasn't until we ended up in another room, that looked similar to mine, that I finally got a good look at Heidi.

She was tall with long brown hair and a stunning smile. That wasn't what was most impressive though; her looks alone would make even the most confident girl in the world hate herself. The only way to accurately describe her would be that she was extremely beautiful, not that that would have affected my self-esteem any considering I couldn't give two shits about how I looked. For crying out loud, I wore sneakers and jeans and spent my entire life living in the woods. Looks weren't exactly high up on my list of priorities. Not to mention the fact that I wasn't exactly around mirrors a lot growing up.

Heidi then circled me as if she were assessing how much work had to be done in order to make me look presentable. When she was finished with her inspection, she stood directly in front of me.

"Well, for one," she started. "You need to clean yourself up. You look as if you've been living in the wild." Well, she was pretty dead on with that. "And then we need to get you clothes that are...gender appropriate." The remorse and self-loathing was starting to vanish, and in its place was anger. Oh hell no was I trading in my jeans and sneakers for dresses and fancy shoes. Don't get me wrong, I definitely saw this coming, but now that I was faced with the reality of actually having to wear that stuff, I was seriously pissed off. I scowled at her as she shoved me into the bathroom to clean up while she searched for a dress for me to wear. Apparently bathrooms were much more handy than I had originally thought.

Once I was all cleaned up, I walked back into the room and saw about 30 dresses, all in black, spread out all over the room. It felt like I was dress shopping to appear at my own funeral. Seriously, if I thought I was in hell before, I clearly had no concept of it up until now.

As soon as Heidi picked out the first dress, I knew right away I would hate it. The dress had wide straps, a ton ruffles and poof to it, and stopped right above the knee. That dress was better suited for a six year old than me.

I stared at that thing in disgust before Heidi practically forced me into the bathroom to try it on.

"Hell no am I ever wearing this!" I yelled as I looked at myself in the mirror. "This dress is for six year olds!" Heidi then pulled the bathroom door open, examined me for a moment, and then nodded her head before throwing another dress in my direction. I scowled at her before closing the door and trying the second dress on.

After what felt like hours of trying on dress after ridiculous dress, Heidi finally found one that she thought was good enough for me to wear. At that point, I was so annoyed by the whole ordeal that I didn't even bother looking at myself in the dress; I had enough of dresses and dressing up to last a lifetime.

Heidi showed me back to my room once she was finished, and assured me that she'd soon be filling my closet with similar clothes. Sighing, I nodded at her and she left, going off somewhere to do whatever it was that she did in this ridiculous place.

'Welcome home, I guess,' I thought sadly. I walked over to the bed and laid down, staring up at the ceiling just thinking. I tried to remember my life before the change, and could hardly remember anything. I could see bits and pieces of blurry memories, but it felt like I was seeing my life through a dirty window; nothing was clear. All this did was upset me further, and I started to think about what my life was going to be like after being trapped in this hell hole. Although it wasn't ideal, rather it was pretty much like a prison, I knew that I had no other choice. The mistake I made of leaving that Carlisle dude would always haunt me, but I knew I had to come up with some sort of plan to get out of that place.

Rather than think about all of the bad, I stared up at the ceiling, planning my eventual escape.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed the story so far. Reviews are much appreciated as always. Feel free to pm me or review with a question, I'm more than happy to answer them :)


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

If felt like a lifetime ago that I had a moment to myself like I had just then. I had once again, found myself lying on the useless bed in my room, trying to escape this hell of a life that I had managed to put myself into, both literally and figuratively. This was really my only form of escape, as no matter where I “tried” to go or what I did, there was no alone time. It seemed that no matter what, someone was always watching me, making sure I wasn’t planning to run away; not like I could anyway, considering Demetri could track me down and drag me back here against my will.

Demetri is a tracker, and a very skilled one. Just by picking up on someone’s thoughts, he could track down anyone, no matter how far away they were. It was quite scary, and, to be honest, the only hitch in my escape plans, from what I could see. 

The Volturi, as I had soon learned their cult was called, had a vast number of “gifted” vampires. Aro like to collect them; he was quite power hungry. For instance, Chelsea, another high ranking member of the guard, was able to influence people’s relationships. She could force anyone to stay with the Volturi against their will. Unfortunately for Aro and the rest of the Volturi, her gift didn’t work on me, due to my special talents. And yes, I did mean  _ talents. _

Originally, Aro had thought I was a physical shield, meaning I could block attacks. He and I soon learned, however, that I had a form of telekinesis, allowing me to control objects with my mind. So that day when I sent Felix off into the great unknown? Yeah, I apparently pushed him away with my mind.

As for my second gift? Yeah, I tried to keep that a secret as long as possible, but Aro started to get very suspicious of me when Chelsea’s gift stopped working on me out of nowhere. It was extremely rare, but possible, for a vampire to have multiple gifts. This particular gift was extremely powerful, and I  **_hated_ ** using it unless I absolutely needed to. You see, my second gift allowed me to influence people’s thoughts, go so far as to fabricate whole memories and stories in their minds. It was dangerous and very powerful at the same time.

At first, I didn’t even know I had that gift. It wasn’t until I discovered what came along with it, that I knew it was there. It was extremely handy to have because I could sense whenever someone tried to use a gift on me that affected my mind. It was as if I could feel it trying to force its way into my mind. That was when I’d reject it; pushing whatever foreign thing that tried to weasel its way into my mind straight out. I had originally thought that I had some sort of mental shield, but it turned out that what I had been doing was, well, in laymen’s terms, bitch slapping the hell out of whoever was trying to control me.

I eventually had realized that the source was Chelsea, who, under Aro’s orders, was trying to change my feelings towards the Volturi to trap me there. Of course, she realized it wasn’t working, and after a while, confronted me about it. Needless to say, she stopped trying to control me after that encounter.

It took a lot of effort to try and hide this second gift, but Aro had eventually found out about it. It was a complete and total mistake on my end, but afterwards, he had found an even worse use for my talents.

I had come back from hunting one day, forcing myself to at least try not to kill humans after how horrible I felt that very first day. Aro had called me up to speak to him, basically as one of his lame ass attempts to figure out where I ran off to when they were all  _ enjoying their meals _ . He forced me to show him what I had been doing by taking my hand, and invading the privacy of my memories. As my go to reaction, I had forced him out of my mind, and in that instant, revealed that I could manipulate thoughts. You see, I had inadvertently told him to get out of my mind by changing his thoughts. I had basically told him that he didn’t want to be inside my head, while he was inside my head. It’s a complicated and probably confusing explanation, but I’m trying my best.

Anyway, after that moment, Aro had decided to use me as a way of  _ interrogating _ people. I was forced to make vampires suspected of breaking the laws of our kind to reveal if they had or not. Unfortunately for Jane, she was used as sort of a last resort during these times. She rather liked using her gift on others, as she had the ability to make others feel immense pain with her mind. In all honesty, I’d rather Jane be the one forced to use her gift than me, even though the results for those being interrogated always ended up being the same; death. Jane’s gift was more painful to tolerate watching, but at least she wasn’t the one being forced to create false memories in people’s minds just so the Volturi could have the satisfaction of murdering a person just for the hell of it. It made me sick each and every time I was forced to use that gift, and I wished I had never slipped up.

It got harder each day I was trapped here. Eventually though, the Volturi allowed me some freedom to hunt on my own, however, it came with its conditions, all of which I was not okay with. It allowed me some sort of feeling of freedom, and if I wanted to keep that teensy bit of freedom I had, I had to agree with those conditions. They had exhausted every opportunity they had to get me to be “normal,” but after being held captive against my will, I wanted some control over my own life, and choosing my own diet was the only thing I could control. So after quite a few years, the Volturi had given up, and allowed me to retain that one bit of control. It was a small step towards freedom, but it was a step.

Once I had finally gained control over my thirst, they eventually allowed me to venture out of the castle, as long as I was with someone else from the guard. They still didn’t trust that I wouldn’t try to run away. They shouldn’t, honestly, as I’ve been plotting my escape ever since I got here, and so far, I’ve come up with nothing.

I continued to think about various ways to get out of this hell on earth, when my thoughts were interrupted by a knock on my door. Rather than get up, I used my power to just open the door, knowing that no matter who was there, they’d just come in anyway.

“Are you going to mope around in here forever?” Demetri asked. I scoffed.

“Of course not,” I said, not moving from my place on the bed while continuing to stare up at the ceiling. “That would be a complete bore and waste of time.”

“Would you at least get up then?” I sighed and sat up on the bed, looking at him as he stood in the doorway to my room, or as I referred to it, my jail cell.

“For the 8,367th time. you do know you can actually walk into the room right?” He smiled at me and took one step into the room, just as he always did. I just rolled my eyes at him.

“Attempting to learn another language, I see.”

“Considering there’s not much else to do around here, why not?” I had already learned five languages in the last 30 years that I’d been there. I figured a 6th wouldn’t hurt. “It’s the only other thing I can think of doing to pass the time.”

“I’m assuming drum lessons weren’t working out so well,” he said.

“They were,” I replied, “up until Felix barged in and threw the drum set out the window.” Yeah, that was interesting. Apparently I was too loud and giving him a headache. Like that was even possible. “Besides, I was getting bored of that.”

“You’re getting bored of everything,” he said with a sigh. “Are you ever going to learn to give this place a chance? You might actually enjoy it here.”

“Yeah, okay,” I said sarcastically. “I definitely enjoy having absolutely no freedom whatsoever.”

“Quit being so dramatic, Roxanne. Just give this place a chance, and I’m sure it will grow on you.” I highly doubted that, but there was no point in telling him. That wasn’t the first time we had had that conversation; that conversation happened multiple times a week, if not every day. Demetri was also one of the only people in the guard to call me Roxanne. The rest either didn’t talk to me, or chose to call me Eris. Even thinking about that name made me cringe.

“So what was it that you really wanted?” I asked. He usually only came to talk to me if I was needed for something or if I was in trouble, which tended to happen way too often.

“Aro would like to see you,” he said. I rolled my eyes and groaned.

“Great,” I said. “What does his royal pain in my ass want this time?”

“I’m not sure, but it did sound urgent,” Demetri answered, refusing to acknowledge my previous comment.

“Fine,” I said, and got up off of my bed. “Do you think I could convince them to let me leave the castle for once?”

“Doubt it,” he said. I nodded and sighed. They’d never let me leave, no matter what.

Demetri gestured for me to go ahead of him. Sighing again, I walked out of my room, with him following. Whatever it was that they wanted this time, I knew it wasn’t going to be good; they never wanted anything from me that I approved of. The only thing they ever wanted me for was “interrogations.” I internally shivered at that thought. After the last one I had to do, I wasn’t sure I’d ever be okay to do that again. No doubt, that’s what they wanted me for, and I was going to have no choice but to go through with it.

I walked silently in front of Demetri, through the long hallways towards the throne room. The last thing I needed to do was be loud and obnoxious in front of Aro. If I was ever going to get out of here, I needed to be on my best behavior around them. Yeah, that was going to be easy. I scoffed, causing Demetri to give me an odd look. I just ignored him and kept walking.

I approached the doors, and, with an unnecessary deep breath, opened them. I took a quick look around the room to see if there was anyone in the room that I did not already recognize. After deeming it a non-interrogation call, plastering a vacant expression on my face, I entered the room. I stood before Aro, Marcus, and Caius and remained silent, waiting for one of them to speak.

“Ah, Eris,” Aro finally said. “How wonderful it is to see you.” ‘ _ You summoned me here asshole,’  _ I thought. I just nodded my head. “I bet you are wondering why we asked you here.” Again, I nodded, making sure not to physically roll my eyes like I had in my head. That would not have gone over well with them. “We felt it was time to let you venture outside of the castle walls.” I just about dropped dead (again) from shock. He couldn’t be serious about this, could he? “This may come to a surprise to you, but we felt that now you have some control over your thirst, it would be alright to let you go outside.” I internally cheered, this was what I had been waiting for for so long. “Of course, you’d need to be accompanied by another member of the guard.” And then my happiness died down. My shoulders slumped a bit, realizing that even though I’d be getting more freedom, I was, for all intents and purposes, getting a babysitter. “So, if you would like to go now, Felix will be waiting to take you.”

“What?!” I yelled. Oops. I hadn’t meant to say that out loud. Felix? Felix was going to be my  _ babysitter _ . I all but gagged at that thought. “I mean, um, couldn’t I maybe go with someone else?”  _ ‘Like,  _ **_anyone_ ** _ else,’ _ I added mentally.

“Now, Eris,” Aro said. “We are being more than fair by allowing you to leave the castle.”

“Well yeah, and thanks for that,” I said. “But he probably doesn’t even want to go.” I tried to argue my case, but it didn’t seem that they were going to let me get my way. “What if Demetri took me instead. I’m sure he’d be willing to take me.” Aro seemed to think about it for a minute, before opening his mouth to speak. I knew, however, that he was going to say no, considering the last thing he wanted was for me to be happy in this place. So, before he even got a chance to answer, I decided to experiment with my other  _ gift _ on him. Now I knew it was a risky move, because if it worked I would get my way, but there was no way he wasn’t going to find out about it. If it didn’t work though, I was definitely screwed.  _ ‘Worth a shot,’ _ I thought. So, without any time left, I sort of pushed the idea into his head to send Demetri with me instead, just as an experiment. His expression went blank for a moment before his normal expression returned.

“What a wonderful idea,” he said. I was confused. “Demetri, you will accompany Eris today.” I was shocked. That actually  _ worked _ . ‘ _ If only I had known about this sooner,’ _ I thought.  _ ‘Then maybe I could’ve gotten out of here sooner.’ _ Holy shit! How had I not thought of that sooner. I may have finally found a permanent way out of this place after all. Now I just needed time to come up with a plan.

Demetri nodded his head at Aro, and we proceeded to make our way out of the castle. After passing by the newest receptionist, we made our way up the elevator and through the long tunnels that I had not seen since I first arrived at this place.

Once we made it out onto the surface, Demetri had stated that it was cloudy, and it would not be completely necessary for me to put up the hood on my cloak. I nodded and started to venture out towards the street.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Demetri asked while placing a hand on my shoulder.

“Into the city?” I said, more like a question than a statement. Demetri shook his head.

“We are not to be seen by humans,” he said. I slumped my shoulders.

“But,” I said. “I thought the whole point of letting me out was to  _ let me out _ .” He shook his head again and smiled sadly at me.

“I’m sorry, Roxanne,” he said. “But we are not to enter the streets of the city. We can observe from a distance, but that’s all.” I sighed and stared out into the streets. People flooded the city and seemed to be enjoying themselves. They were all smiles and laughs. For the first time in a while, I wished I were human again, just so I could know what it felt like to be that free and happy.

“Okay,” I said sadly. Demetri led me away from that area and further away from the city. I looked back, and again wished I were one of those people.

“So,” Demetri said, after we had walked to another area outside of the city. “How did you manage to convince Aro to let me escort you out?”

“I didn’t do anything,” I said, looking away. Of course he knew I had to have done something. Demetri had been with the Volturi long enough to know that Aro would never willingly change his mind like that. I looked over at him and he looked at me skeptically. “Oh alright! I may or may not have manipulated his thoughts… maybe.”

“Roxanne, do you have  _ any _ idea how much trouble you could get in if anyone finds out what you have done?”

“Of course I do,” I said. “But I didn’t think it would actually  _ work _ . I mean, think about it, Demetri. I have this gift, and I’ve only been allowed to use it when they wanted me to. Don’t you think I deserve to use it for myself for once?” I looked at him questioningly, almost begging him to understand where I was coming from. I doubt he would fully understand it, as Chelsea’s been using her gift on everyone in the castle. He was still very much under their control. He sighed.

“Well yes, but that does not make it alright,” he said. “Just promise you won’t use it again.” I thought about it for a minute. I really did hate using that gift, but at the moment, it was my only shot at getting out of this place permanently. I don’t think I could possibly make that promise, but I knew that Demetri was only looking out for me like he had been since the day he and Felix found me in the forest.

“I promise,” I said. I knew I didn’t actually mean it, but what he didn’t know, wouldn’t hurt him. He smiled slightly at me and stated that it was time to head back to the castle.

On the way back, I couldn’t help but think of the how exactly I could use that gift to get me out of the Volturi, permanently. I knew that there was no way I could convince Aro and the rest of the Volturi to let me leave, but there had to be some alternative that was just as good, right?

We arrived back at the castle, and I went back to my room, still thinking of the various ways to leave that place. That became a daily occurrence. I would leave the castle for a while, with either Demetri, or another member of the guard, such as Jane ─ who became Aro’s favorite to go with me ─ and I would think about the different ways I could use my gift on the Volturi to allow me to go. It became apparent that Aro, Marcus, and Caius began to trust that I wouldn’t run away when they eventually sent me out with other high ranking guard members to go “collect” the vampires that broke our laws.

After a few months, I began to earn their trust so well, that they allowed me to venture into the city on my own. Of course, I knew I wasn’t completely alone as a guard member could always be spotted nearby, and I still tended to stick out in the crowds of people, even though I was dressed as a regular human, rather than in my normal all black attire that I had grown accustomed to.

One day, as I was thinking about how to use that gift, it finally came to me. Aro had trusted me almost completely enough at this point to let me venture out on my own.  _ ‘What if I told him I wanted to travel,’ _ I thought. That would at least buy me enough time to come up with an even better plan to leave. Then I slumped my shoulders.  _ ‘He would eventually send Demetri after me to bring me back though.’ _ I perked up again when another thought hit me. Maybe if I told them that I’d come back each and every time they needed me, they’d led me continue to travel. At least then they’d know that I would come back, and they could use Demetri as a last resort. I smiled happily. This plan would have to work no matter what. I  _ needed _ to get out of that place permanently.

I began to research where the cloudiest places in the world were, on the computer that I had bought on one of my trips in the city. Even though sunny places were very appealing as I hadn’t seen the sun in God knows how long, unfortunately, being in a place where the sun was out all the time was definitely out of the picture. The last thing I needed to do was break any of the laws while I was out on my own. That would call for a one-way ticket back to Volterra and my death. I knew I definitely needed to get out of Europe, because that would be too short of a trip for any of the guard to come and bring me back.

I then narrowed my search to the United States, feeling a little nostalgic at the moment. It seemed as though the states closest to Alaska were the cloudiest, and settled on either Oregon or Washington state. I then narrowed my search even further to little known towns, so as not to attract attention to myself. As I was almost done with my search, there was a knock on my door.

I quickly closed the computer, and used my telekinesis to open the door. I was surprised to see Jane on the other side of the door as she never comes to my room.

“Aro would like to see you,” she simply stated, before turning away and, most likely, walked towards the throne room. I got up and followed after her, making sure to grab my black cloak from off of the bed frame as I left.

I silently made my towards the throne room, worriedly wondering what Aro could want. He had, up until this point, been using me as a form of interrogation out in the field when I went out to collect the law breaking vampires with various members of the guard. I began to worry that he had somehow gotten wind of what I was up to, and once I reached the doors to the throne room, I let out an unnecessarily shaky breath before opening the door.

“Eris,” Aro said happily, as I walked into the room. This concerned me as he was rarely ever  _ genuinely _ happy to see me. At least, it appeared that he was genuinely happy to see me. I stood before the three of them and nodded my head. “It has been brought to my attention that you seem to be getting restless here. Is that true?” I attempted to hide my shock as best as I possibly could at that point.  _ ‘How in the world could he have found out about that?’ _ I thought. Sure, I had been extremely unhappy since I got there, but he just started to notice this  _ now? _ I nodded my head slowly, afraid that he would do something horrible to me soon. “Well, it seems that even though we have allowed you to venture outside of these walls on your own for a few hours, that you still are unhappy with this arrangement. How can we make this better for you?” He was seriously asking me to tell him how I could be  _ happier _ living there? Was he out of his old, crazy ass  _ mind _ ?

I thought about it for a little bit, beginning to wonder if he somehow found out about my plans. There was no way though, as he would have had to read my mind in order for those plans to be exposed, and I never allowed him to read those thoughts when he forced me to share them with him.

“No, I don’t think so,” I squeaked out. It was far too early to put my plan into action, especially since I was now basically being called out on it.

“Now now, Eris,” he said. “Don’t be so shy. Please, if there is anything we can do, feel free to share it.” I looked at him again and realized that maybe he wasn’t asking because he knew about my plan, he was asking because he was afraid that with the new freedom he gave me, that I had a chance to run away. Oh shit, this was definitely the  _ perfect _ time to ask.

“Well,” I said. “I always wanted to travel.” I just threw caution to the wind with that one, and hoped to God that he wouldn’t take away the little freedom he already allowed for bringing that up. He seemed to be thinking about it for a minute, and it started to worry me. I may have began to panic. “It wouldn’t be a permanent thing,” I added mentally smacking myself.

“That is an interesting idea,” he said. I could tell there was no way in hell that he would agree to it. Panicking, I did the one thing I (kind of) promised Demetri I wouldn’t do; I messed with his thoughts. He again, got that blank stare on his face as I forced my idea into his head, telling him to allow me to travel, as long as I came back when called. The minute I knew the thought had sunk in, I pulled away and allowed him to speak. “Here is my thought,” he continued. Again, I mentally cringed waiting for the idea to be rejected. Instead, what he said next surprised the hell out of me. “We will agree to let you travel, however, you must return when we request that you return. Is that understood?” I stared at him, willing my surprise not to betray what I had just done. Instead, I put on a blank face, and made him think I was taking the time to think it over. After I felt I allotted enough time to “process” this plan, I simply nodded my head. “Wonderful. Demetri.” Demetri stepped forward and gave me a skeptical look before turning back to Aro, Caius and Marcus. He bowed his head in acknowledgment. “You will be responsible for keeping track of Eris. I know you won’t fail.”

“Yes master,” he said. Aro clapped his hands together with a smile on his face.

“Wonderful!” he said. “Feel free to leave when you are ready.” I smiled at him and began to walk back towards my room to collect some things. “Eris,” he called. I stopped and turned back towards him. “Do wait until sundown. I would hate for you to draw unwanted attention towards yourself.” I nodded my head in acknowledgment and made my way back towards my room with Demetri following closely behind.

Once we were back in the comfort of my room, Demetri broke the silence.

“You’ve done it again, haven’t you?” he asked. I ignored him and began to gather some of the things I was planning on taking with me. “Roxanne!”

“What did you expect me to do?” I asked. “I thought he was gearing up to get rid of me!”

“I told you not to use your gift on him,” he replied.

“I panicked, okay? I mean honestly, it wasn’t even that strong this time,” I said. “I just kind of, threw it at him alright?”

“It still doesn’t make things right, Roxanne,” Demetri said. “You do realize he will find out eventually.”

“No shit,” I said. “But until then, I, at least, have some time to come up with another plan to figure things out.”

“Was this what you’ve been doing all along? Planning an escape?” I sighed. Did he honestly think that 30 years of this hell was going to change my mind in the slightest? Apparently he did, because he was looking at me like I had completely lost my mind.

“Demetri,” I said. “You may have learned to  _ love _ this place, but I don’t belong here. We are two completely different classes of vampire. You eat people and I eat animals. Nothing is going to change my diet, and lord knows they tried. I need to be able to come and go, whenever I want. I won’t get that here,  _ ever. _ Just let me do this.”

Demetri looked at me for a moment, letting what I had just said sink in. He finally realized that I was right, and sighed.

“You do know that I will have to come after you when the time comes,” he said.

“And that’s why I prepared,” I said, throwing a phone at him. “There’s only one phone number programmed in there. Just call me before you come to get me, alright? I at least want a warning before you and whoever else Aro sends you with, come popping in.” He nodded and stared at the phone, trying to figure out exactly how it worked. “You flip it open and press the green button.” He looked up at me with a blank stare on his face.

“I knew that,” he said. I smiled and shook my head at him. “Be careful.”

“Always am,” I replied with a smile. Demetri shook his head at me and left me to pack my things.

I grabbed the phone and put it into the pocket of the duffel bag that I had bought on one of my trips into the city. It was a wonder how I managed to sneak these things inside without anyone noticing. I also packed a few of the  _ dresses _ knowing that I would need them when Demetri called.

I continued to gather my things until everything I knew I was going to need was packed away. Afterwards, I flipped the laptop back open and continued on with my research. What I didn’t tell Aro or Demetri was that I was not planning on travelling; I was planning on permanently relocating. Hopefully it would be to a place I could hide out for a while, and then move on to somewhere new.

After having narrowed things down, the computer screen showed only two possible places for me to live; one located in Oregon, the other in Washington. Although both sounded appealing, I needed one that was completely inconspicuous, and the last place anyone would ever think to look for me. I juggled the two places in my head, trying to decide on the least conspicuous place, when I finally made up my mind. I shutdown the laptop, and packed it away in the duffel bag.

I eagerly waited until sundown, knowing that once it was dark enough, I was leaving this city for good. Once the sun set, I left my room with my bag, and made my way through the halls and out through the throne room.

I said a quick goodbye to our current receptionist, whose name I had forgotten, and out onto the streets of Volterra. From there, I headed to the closest airport and bought a ticket to the first city in the United States I could find.

After a long flight, I took another plane to Seattle, Washington, where from there, I would head to my new home; Forks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well that's another chapter done. I hope you enjoyed it! As always leave lots of reviews as they keep me motivated. Sure, it's fun and exciting seeing the amount of views a story gets, but reviewing actually lets me know what your opinions are of the story. So please, take the time to drop even a simple "nice story" or whatever you feel in the review section.
> 
> Big thanks to my beta Res_CVX for editing this chapter for me, even though she had almost no time to do it this week. For updates on my story progress feel free to check out my tumblr page (link is in my profile). I have decided to forgo the livejournal as it was getting to be a gigantic pain to update. You can also feel free to pm me with any questions you have about this story or any of my other ones. Again, I hope you enjoyed it!
> 
> ~Incandescent_Midnight


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